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th ei fp .c a Th e IF P -H al to n H ill s | T hu rs da y, Ja nu ar y 30 ,2 02 0 | 4 FULL-SERVICE RETIREMENT HOME 905-877-1800 222 Mountainview Road North, Georgetown www.mountainviewresidence.com Seniors enjoy an independent lifestyle with comfortable accommodations, personal care and other supportive services. Retirement living can be the best of times when you live in an atmosphere of comfort and family caring. Mountainview Residence Of Georgetown It wasn't that long ago Louise Rion's father was taking to the skies with a local flying club, living out his passion for all things aviation. But now, the George- town woman wouldn't con- sider it safe for her father, Paul Horsten, to even ride a bike, or walk anywhere by himself for fear that he'll never make it back home. Such is the stark reality for those living with Alz- heimer's disease - the most common form of dementia that slowly robs people of their abilities and memory, and is ultimately fatal. With January being Alz- heimer's Awareness Month, the local mother is sharing her family's expe- rience coping with the dev- astating condition that's becoming increasingly common. It was about four or five years ago when Rion first started noticing changes in her dad's ability to remem- ber things. "Then it just became a lot worse," she recalled. "You couldn't leave him alone because he'd be wan- dering, and you're fearing for his safety." Within a span of a year, she watched as her dad - a lifelong aircraft mechanic - lost both his driver's and pi- lot's licences, along with his home as her parents downsized to an apartment in Brampton. "His life and passion was airplanes. It was like every- thing was taken from him, which was really hard," she said. "It was a really big ad- justment for him." With Alzheimer's yet to impact his mobility, Hor- sten kept trying to take the car keys and go for a drive - a dangerous move that ulti- mately led to him and wife Sheilagh getting rid of their vehicle as well. Having no other means of transportation avail- able, he would then hop on his bike and ride across the busy city streets to the Brampton Flying Club, with no water to stay hy- drated or plans for his re- turn trip home. "It's difficult because he wants to walk or get on a bike, but it's not safe," said Rion. "My mom was at the Superstore with him and said, 'Wait here,' and within minutes he was half way down Steeles." Most recently, Horsten left the apartment to look for his children. In his mind, the clock had turned back several decades to a time when he was a young father of three. He was con- vinced that Rion, along with her brother and sister, were all babies again, and that they were missing. The Georgetown wom- an has now started the ar- duous process of looking at long-term care options for her father. In the mean- NEWS LIVING IN ALZHEIMER'S AGONIZING GRIP LOCAL WOMAN TELLS OF DOWNWARD SPIRAL OF ONE OF DISEASE'S MANY VICTIMS MELANIE HENNESSEY mhennessey@ metroland.com Louise Rion photo Paul Horsten, who suffers from Alzheimer's, finds singing to a baby doll soothing.See - page 5